Bloodroot

Bloodroot by Cynthia Riggs is the twelfth book in the Martha's Vineyard Mysteries. Victoria Trumbull has a painful wisdom tooth and needs to have it pulled. Victoria is waiting at Island Dental Clinic when there is a commotion. Mildred Wilmington, a patient, is dead. The West Tisbury police are called out. The receptionist, Vivian Parsons is very upset over the death and unable to drive home. A co-worker agrees to take her, but he makes a pit stop (for alcohol) along the way. Vivian waits in the car, but she is not there when the co-worker returns. Vivian is later found dead in the water (and it is not an accident). Someone wanted to make sure that Vivian did not talk. What did Vivian know or had she seen something? The investigation is not helped when Dr. Horace Mann (the head of Island Dental Clinic) has the staff clean the clinic before the forensic crew can be called in (very suspicious). Police Chief Mary Kathleen O’Neill and her staff are stretched thin because of an upcoming presidential visit. When it turns out that Mildred was poisoned, Victoria (who is a police deputy of sorts) sets out to figure out who killed the two women. Mildred was a rich woman with four grandchildren. Each one with a motive. But they are not the only suspects. Victoria has also to deal with her Elizabeth’s (granddaughter) ex-husband, Lockwood. Lockwood is a nasty and cruel man. He has decided that Victoria’s home should belong to him. What will Lockwood do to achieve his goal? It is going to be a busy week for Victoria! This is the first book I have read in this series (I had not heard of the series prior to seeing this book listed). I did not know it was the twelfth book in the series when I agreed to read it. It is extremely confusing at first (and through most of the book). There are a lot of characters (especially from the dental clinic) and suspects (over a dozen). The two murders occur within the first two chapters (a writer should never put the crime right at the beginning of the book). The mystery is complex (which I loved), but the killer was the person I picked out at the beginning. The clues (which we get in the last half of the book) will lead you in the direction of the killer. I liked how the main character, Victoria Trumbull conducted her investigation. I give Bloodroot 4 out of 5 stars. The book has a good pace and is nicely written (which makes the novel easy to read). This book can be read alone. The main characters are easy to keep straight (it was just all the dental staff that made it confusing). I will definitely be reading the other books in this series and look forward to future novels. I received a complimentary copy of Bloodroot from NetGalley in exchange for an honest evaluation of the novel.